The Core Elements of Health and Training
Have you ever scrolled instagram for too long and been totally overwhelmed by the amount of information that conflicts?
‘Skip breakfast and you’ll lose bodyfat and make 7 figures tomorrow’
‘If you don’t eat within the first 30 minutes of waking you can’t gain muscle’
‘Cardio will kill your strength gains’
‘Don’t sleep on your cardio to improve performance’
The amount of information is crushing and the worst part, so much of social media uses the tactic of fear mongering to get you to buy their stuff.
Let’s break down what actually moves the needle and what you should focus on.
Training.
First off, you need to be consistent. Find a way to get in 2x strength sessions minimum per week.
In these strength sessions, you need to have some element of progressive overload - this can be adding more reps, more sets, more weight or slowing down the tempo (how long you are actually doing the movement for).
The majority of your training should be with compound movements - think of these are movements that require more than one joint to be working.
Cardiovascular work is super important, if you want to live a long, high quality life, you need to do it.
80% of your cardiovascular work should be zone 2. Think this is a pace you can maintain for 2-3 hours if needed.
20% of your cardiovascular work should be VO2 max focused. This would be hard intervals lasting 3-8 minutes in length, with a 1-1 work/rest ratio.
Nutrition.
Total calories dictates your bodyweight, you can’t get away from the law of thermodynamics.
The breakdown of the composition of your food intakes dictates how you feel.
If you focus only on one thing, let that be your protein intakes. Aim for 70%-100% of body weight in grams of protein (if you are overweight/obese, make these targets off of ideal body weight).
Let fruits and vegetables be a staple in your diet. There is a movement of shooting for 800g of fruits and vegetables per day, which is a great way to ensure you are getting enough micronutrients.
Intermittent fasting, low carb, low fat, keto, etc are all styles of restricting what, how or the timing of your eating. The success one finds is related typically to a decrease in total calories. These can be tools but be wary of them ‘solving’ problems.
Lifestyle.
Sleep is the foundation of everything. The 3-2-1 method can create guardrails to help you create an optimal environment. 3 hours before bed, conclude eating. 2 hours before bed, conclude drinking. 1 hour before bed, conclude screens.
Find a deep reason for why you will get healthy. This helps when inevitably, things get hard.
We are meant to be breathing through our nose, only with the exception of a few times - when we are eating, speaking or exercising really hard. Practice going back to nose only.
Life is short, tell those you care about that you love them.
If you take action on these steps listed above, it would be impossible to not feel better, physically and mentally. In the coming weeks, I will continue to expand on these points above to add further information and actionable steps.